Packing gland construction



March 24, 1942. H. R. ARF.

` PACKING GLAND CONSTRUCTION FildFb. 27, 1940 univ INVENTOR Herman Richard .rf BY 63 v ,U

ATroRNY/s Patented Mar. 24, 1942 PACKING GLAND CONSTRUCTION Herman Richard Ari, Chicago, lll., assignor to I The Safety Car Heating and Lighting Company, Inc., a corporation of Delaware Application February 27, h1940, Serial No. 321,040 4 claims. A(Cl. zas-11)' This invention relates to packing gland construction and more in particular to a self-adjusting. fluid-tight shaft seal.

One of the objects of this 'invention is to provide a 'packing gland construction which is simple, practical, and'thoroughly durable. Another object is to provide a construction ofthe above character which may be easily manufactured with a minimum of labor from inexpensive mate# rials, and which is sturdy and durable under the strain of extended use. A further object is to provide a construction of the above character forming an efllcient self-adjusting seal for a ro-l tary shaft. Another Objectis to provide a construction such as the above, the parts of which may bereadiiy replaced when worn. Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements, and arrangements of parts as will be exemplified in the structure to be hereinafter described, and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the following claims.

The accompanying drawing, in which is shown one of the various possible embodiments 'of my invention, is a longitudinal sectional view of a packing gland construction sealing a rotary shaft;

As conducive to a clearer understanding of certain features of the invention, it might here he pointed out that in preventing leakage of a fluid from a high pressure zone along a rotary s haf t to a icw pressure zone, it is diillcult to provide a bearing for the shaft and a seal between the sha't and the bearing. This dilculty is aggravated by longitudinal movement of the shaft,

alters the position of the sealing faces of the bearing. In accordance with the present in vertion. an automatically adjustable shaft-sealing unit. er hacking gland. is provided with suficient flexibility of adjustment to permit movement without disturbing the efficiency of the seal Furthermore, such e.v sealing unit may be easilv and quickly disassembled and assembled when necessary. as for example, if repairs are to ha. made. Accordingly, another object of 'this inv^n+inn is tn provide a practical construction of the above character in which the above-mentioned dinuities, in addition to many others, are successfully and emciently overcome.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, there is illustraively shown a section of one wall of' a pump casing generally indicated at Ill and having a hub I2 through which extends a rotary shaft II. Shaft Il transmits power to the pump rotary element (not shown) at the left, there being high pressure at the left. of hub I2 and atmospheric pressure at the right. Thus, there is a tendency for fluid to leak out from'the left to the right along shaft II. Hub I2 is provided with a packing gland construction in accordance y with the present invention which effectively prevents such leakage without interfering with the support and the free movement of shaft II.

At the left, hub I2 is provided with an inwardly extending ange I4 which has its inner edge spaced from shaft I I to permit free movement of a which movement, although small, neverthelessl the shaft, and held against flange I4 is a spacing ring i6, at the right of which is a supporting ring I8. Contacting the peripheral edge ofv the. supporting ring I8, is an inner clamping ring 20,

and to the right of clamping ring 20, is a sleeve 22, the right end of whichis contacted by anY .outer clamping ring 24. Rigidly clamped against the right side of clampingl ring 24 and against the end of hub I2, is an outer supporting ring 26, which is held in place by an end cover plate 28. End cover plate 28 is rigidly held in place by a plurality of stud bolts 30 screwed into the end of the hub.

Clamping rings 20 and 24 and-sleeve 22 are metallic, while spacing ring I6 and supporting rings I8 and 2S ar'e of resilient material, illustratively rubber. Thus, end cover plate 28 securely holds all of these elements in alignment, with rings I6, I8 and 26 squeezed and distorted, particularly at their outer edges. Supporting ring I8 resiliently carries an annular bearing seal 32 of bearing metal which is provided with an external annular recess 34 which snugly receives the inner edge of the supporting ring. At the right of the recess, bearing seal 32 is provided with a flange 38 which extends outwardly along the side face of supporting ring I8. Bearing seal 32 is of greater diameter than the outside diameter of shaft II so that the shaft does not` contact the bearing' seal.

The right-hand end of bearing seal 32 is provided with an annular sealing face 88, against which is held the sealing face d2 of a rotating bearing ring d0 also of bearing metal. To the right of bearing ring 40 is positioned a shaftsealing ring 44 of rubber-like material, in this embodiment, synthetic rubber, which is force fitted on shaft vII to form a fluid-tight seal along the shaft. At the left end, shaft-sealing ring 44 is provided with a peripheral flange 4B having the same outside diameter as rotating bearing Resiliently contacting flange 68 is the right end of a compression spring 64 which exerts resilient y pressure toA` the left through anged sleeve 48 and shaft-sealing' ring 44 to rotating bearing ring 48 and through the sealing faces 42 'ard 88 to bearing seal 82. The pressure exerted by spring 64 is such that sealing sleeve 44 tends to slide to the left along the shaft, and because of the resilient mountings of rotatable bearing ring 40 and bearing seal 82, sealing faces 38 and j42 are forced into complete alignment withosuillcient ,pressure between the sealing faces to prevent. leakage of fluid therealong. The force fit of shaft-sealing ring 44 upon shaft I'I prevents leakage along theshaft, while the distorted condition of the periphery of rings I6 and I8 prevents leakage along the inner surface 66 of the hub. In a like manner, the distorted condition of. ring I 8, combined with the pressure holding flange 66 against theright side of supporting ring I8, prevents ileakage through the center of the'support- At thright of spring 54. is a sealing unit similar'to that at the left, there being a shaft-sealing ringl 68, similar. to shaft-,sealing ring 44, having a sleeve 60 corresponding to sleeve 52 and a iianged sleeve 62 corresponding to flanged sleeve 48, which supports rotating bearing ring 64 corresponding to rotating bearing ring'40. Rotating bearing ring 64 is provided with a sealing face 66 which cooperates with a sealing face 68 upon a bearing seal l0, corresponding to bearing seal 32, and having a flange 14. Bearing seal 18 is supported upon outer supporting. ring 26 through an external annular recess 'I2 upon the bearing seal,

which snugly receives the inner edge of the supporting ring.

Shaft-sealing ring 58 is of the same material as shaft-sealing ring 44, in this embodiment synthetic rubber, and is force fitted upon shaft II to provide a fluid-tight seal about the shaft. Rotating bearing ring 64 and bearing seall 'I0 ar of bearing metal, and they are spaced from shaft I I so that'they are not contacted by the shaft during operation. End cover plate 28 is also spaced from the shaft and from bearing seal I0 so that the end cover plate contacts ony the outer supporting ring 26 and the end face 16 of hub I2.

rI'he space around the shaft between the two sealing units is filled with lubricating oil which is substantially at the pressure of the fluid within the pump casing (at the left). This lubricating oil effectively lubricates thevarious bearing surfaces such as sealing faces 38, 42, 66 and 66, and in addition, assists in providing an efficient seal.

The two sealing units operate substantially independently in performngcertain of the functions, but each is automatically adjusted by spring 64 so that mechanical defects due to Wear, or appearing during manufacture, need not be separatelyaccounted for. The rigid outer construction formed by the clamping action between en d cover plate 28 and flange I4 tends to distort rings I6, I8 and 26 to cause them to tend to bulge inwardly. Space is provided to permit such bulging, and in this condition, fluid-tight 'seals are provided along the surfaces of the rings. At the same time, bearing seals 32 and 'mare reslllently an outwardly extending resilient flange portion,

held so that they may move to the right or the left or so that they may cant without disrupting the seal.

The resiliency of shaft-sealing rings 44 and 68 permits their flanges 46 and '69 to be flexed as a result of the pressure of spring 64 so that the positions of rotating bearings 46 and 84 may accommodate themselves to their proper positions. When such accommodation' involves movement to the right or the left along the shaft.' this is largely accomplished by the sliding of the shaft-sealing rings 44 and 68 along the shaft, though the pressure must be relatively great to cause such sliding. Under some circumstances, the force nt of rings 44 and 68 may be too tight to permit such sliding movement, in which case, the flexing of the be made in the embodiment above set forth. itis to be understood that all matter hereinabove set forth, orA shown in the accompanying drawing, is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limit ing sense.

I claim: y

1. In a packing gland construction for providing a fluid-tight seal between a shaft and a wall structure through which the shaft extends, the combination of two substantially independently operating sealing units which are positioned in spaced relationship along s aid shaft with each unit forming a fluid-tight seal between the shaft and lthe wall structure to thereby form a fluid chamber which is adapted to contain a lubricating fiuid, each of saidsealing units comprising, a shaft sealing ring tightly grasping the shaft to thereby4 form a seal around the shaft and having a `flanged metallic sleeve snugly receiving said flange portion and having a cooperating ange extending inwardly along and overlapping the side of said fiange portion nearest the central yportion of said chamber, a bearing ring retained by said sleeve and tightly 'engaging said shaft sealing ring at the end farthest from the central portion of said chamber, said bearing ring having an inner diameter such that it may move and tilt freely with respect to said shaft and having at its end a bearing face, a cooperating bearing ring having a cooperating bearing face tightly engaging said first-mentioned bearing face, said c ooperating bearing lring having an external groove, a resilient sealing ring fitted into said groove and encircling and snugly receiving said cooperating bearing ring to thereby provide a flexible support for said cooperating bearing ring, and clamping means engaging and rigidly holdin said resilient sealing ring and providing a fluid-tight seal along the periphery of said resilient sealing ring with respect to saidwall structure, the peripheral portion of said resilient sealing ring being positively distorted so that said resilient sealing ring is displaced toward said cooperating bearing ring in a uniform manner;

and compressed spring means within said chamstructure through which the shaft extends,l the combination of: two substantially independently operating sealing units which are positioned in spaced relationship alongsaid shaft with each unit forming a fluid-tight seal between the shaft and the wall structure to thereby form a fluid chamber which is adapted to contain a lubricating fluid, each of said sealing units comprising, a shaft sealing ring construction mounted upon the shaft to thereby form a seal around the shaft and having an annular bearing seal surface, a bearing ring having an annular bearing seal surface coincident with the first-mentioned bearing seal surface and forming a fluid-tight seal therewith, said bearing ring having an external groove,

- a flexible supporting ring snugly encircling said rings contiguous to the outer periphery .of the `flexible rings, a stationary annular member engaging the other side surface of one of said annular rings, and an annular clamping plate clamped against the other side `surface'of the other of said flexible rings with the result that the two exible rings are positively squeezed about their peripheral portions and are thereby distorted inwardly toward their respective sealing rings; anda spring positioned between said shaft sealing rings and exerting a continuous force upon the two shaft sealing rings to hold the bearing seal surfaces together.

3. In a packing gland construction for providing a fiuidtight seal between a shaft and a wall structure through which the shaft extends, the combination of, a shaft sealing ring construction mounted upon the shaft to thereby form a seal around the shaft and having an annular bearing seal surface, a bearing ring having an annular bearing seal surface coincident with the first-mentioned bearing seal surface and forming a fluid-tight seal therewith, said bearing ring having an external groove, a flexible ring `snugly encircling said bearing ring and extending radially therefrom tothe wall structure and said exble ring having its inner periphery positioned Vin said groove, said flexible ring having a thickl ness which is substantial with respect to the distance between said bearing ring and thev wall structurevtothereby provide a firm annular wall, and clamping means positively squeezing the flexible ringvby exerting pressure. upon portions of the opposed annular surfaces of said flexible ring which are adjacent the periphery of the flexible ring whereby the flexible ring is distorted and bulges inwardly in a uniform manner toward said bearing ring.

4. Apparatus as described in claim' 3 wherein f said groove is formed by a pair of annular flanges which extend radially upon opposite sides of said flexible ring'with one radial vflange adjacent said bearing seal surface and extending outwardlyv to overlap an opposed annular flange portion of said wall structure. l

HERMAN RICHARD ARF. 

